Citrus pioneers from the North, it's not easy!

11 years ago

That's right!

I don't mean easy keeping them alive, pest free, and healthy...What I mean is..IT'S NOT EASY TO KEEP THEM CONSISTANTLY GROWING to the point that we get large trees full of fruit in a good amount of time.

I have to say "hats of to you" for doing a great job at the least making them survive and helping them along for what ever the reason is until we can stick them outside in consistant STABLE temps!

That is the part that is not easy!
Do you realize how much bigger our trees would be, greener, faster growing if we could expose them to temps above 55 at night and below the 90's by day for weeks on end?

It is a challange and to be quite honest very discouraging!!!!!!! I think that my trees only grow continualy and worth noticing just a few short weeks of the year the way I would like.

In the past week I finally had a great flush of growth since the temps were nice and warm by day and night until tonight! Now they have to deal with cold nights below the 50's again, to be precise, 30's!!!!! Unless I lug them all back inside again!

It is always a grow, stall, grow stall, grow stall with my trees until finally the constant temps day after day of above 50 at night arrives in June! I think i belong much further south than this

Arg! It's no wonder that many of us northerners have to deal with slowed growth and trees that take forever to get big at the mercy of our weather, that is of course until you can grow them in a green house with lot's of even temps and good light.lol
Yes, from this stand point, "It's NOT easy!"
So don't worry, if your potted trees up here in the north don't grow as fast as you would like, and you have provided everything they need except for consistant temps, it just may not be your fault:-)

MIke

This post was edited by meyermike_1micha on Mon, May 13, 13 at 19:22

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Comments (6)

hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I commend you, Mike, I'm not sure I'd have the fortitude to do what you do with your citrus, but my gosh, your trees are really lovely, and so healthy! I am spoiled by my lovely S. California weather. So much easier here to grow citrus, in containers or in the ground. Hope you're finally getting consistently warm weather now, so your lovely trees can enjoy the outside!

Patty S.
Scott_6B
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Mike,

My apologies for posting this in your thread, but it seems like a good place for it.

I've been growing citrus on and off in the Northeast (Massachusetts) for the past ten years or so and I completely agree with you, it is not easy growing citrus in the north, especially indoors. In years past I've tried grow lamps (600W), heating, etc... to keep my potted citrus growing all year. However, my citrus never seemed truly happy except for 4-5 months in the summer and fall. A couple years ago, I gave up on this approach, and have let my containerized citrus on their own in a relatively cool (50-65F) sun room during the winter. They receive relatively little direct sun and judicious watering. Doing this, at least for me, has resulted in much more content citrus.

I also began messing around with in-ground-citrus (in part from some posts I've seen by Frank_zone5.5) Last spring I planted a Satsuma out in my yard. When winter was approaching, I built a mini-cold frame around it using 35 gal water barrels and an old glass patio door for a roof. To make a long story short (Patty has seen all of my posts on another citrus board...), I was able to overwinter my tree with with great success. I did not supply any external heating, but relied on the high heat capacity and enthalpy of fusion of water to protect the tree all winter (although I did have an emergency heating system). I had the backup heating set to turn on if the temp inside the enclosure got below 27F, the lowest temp inside all winter was 27.6F (when the outside temp was 3F!), so I never needed the emergency heating. The system worked great, not a single leaf dropped (as far as I could tell) all winter. Currently the Satsuma is putting on a nice growth flush.

Overall the outside tree was less work than my indoor trees. Just one afternoon in the fall to setup the enclosure, and another afternoon in the spring to remove it. No watering, no WLD, and no bug problems. My indoor trees were much more work, weekly checks for water, and spraying a couple of times w/ Horticultural oil during the winter to knock back one form or another of insect infestation.

Here's some pics of my outdoor tree:

Last fall (late Oct. 2012):
{{gwi:582646}}

Early Nov. 2012 after putting up the enclosure:
{{gwi:582647}}

Jan. 2012 buried under 25 inches of snow:
{{gwi:582648}}

Graph of the daily low temps (outside air, inside air, and inside soil) in Jan, when we had our coldest weather.
{{gwi:587725}}

Looking good in mid March 2013:
{{gwi:587727}}

After removing the enclosure on May, 1 2013:
{{gwi:582649}}
New Flush on May 1:
{{gwi:582650}}

Currently, I count > 40 flower buds... Hopefully they will be open by the end of the month, this will put them ~1.5 months behind my container Satsuma that flowered in April, and give me a chance of having ripe outdoor citrus by the end of Oct. when I have to put the enclosure back up.
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Felix....Good point! Do you know that everytime I buy a plant from them it declines rapidly, I mean rapidly in their potting soil unless I transplant it inot the gritty mix or 5.1.1....Everytime I look at the roots after a few days, they are well on their way to rot! Thank goodness I change the soil befoe it is too late. Their soil is great for their conditions there, but in my house, forget it...It takes forever for the soil to dry out, even in the 2 inch pots.. But they do certainly have the BEST plants I have ever seen. So now I know how to keep stop them from declining and alive for more than a few weeks..lol I should of caught you were using the gritty mix before this..I am so sorry.. Thank goodness like you say! Then both your calamondin and ponderosa, in fact just about any citrus will do well for you!! Logees has them all! Mike..:-)
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You could try growing a Thai lime/Kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix). The leaves are used in Thai cooking. My tree is outdoors, and so I don't know if it is fragrant as a houseplant, but the leaves smell marvelous when you crush them. Mmmmmm, craving some tom kha gai now...Anyway, you wouldn't really need the fruit with this plant, and the leaves are useful. In fact, if you want, I have some Kaffir limes from the tree that I am not going to use. Are you interested in the seeds? Got anything to trade? I would love some cranberry cuttings, or some pink or white currant cuttings. I've got other citrus fruit/seeds that are not real common if you'd prefer--limequat, yuzu, Seville, Palestine sweet lime, Bergamot. Or bouquet de fleurs in a few months. Another one that may be good is chinotto sour orange, bacause the leaves are unusual ( it's also called myrtle-leaf sour orange ) and it is very slow growing. I will have ripe seeds in a few months. It seems that lots of people grow calamonins indoors too. Also, though I don't know much about growing citrus in the house, but just make sure that if you do, that you have a very very well-drained medium and that it gets lots of light. I germinated a couple of citrus seeds just for the he** of it by sticking them in cup of damp peat and keeping it by a window--but remember I live in California. Keep it somewhere warm--I am thinking of getting a seed warming mat for other stuff. I didn't soak them first. HTH.
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Meyermike, there are oval kumquats (Nagami) and round ones (Meiwa). I prefer the Nagami. The ever popular 'Calamondin' (those small 'orange' trees you frequently see for sale, are actually, most likely, a hybrid (kumquat x madarin (I believe). The Calamondin itself is a great little tree. The advantage over the kumquat is that its flowers are very fragrant. The one thing I miss with the kumquats is the sweet, orange fragrance. The Calamondin too has culinary uses. I have used Calamondin as a secret ingredient in some dishes and the flavor it imparts is distinct and quite agreeable. Still, kumquats are even easier and more trouble-free as houseplants or indoor/outdoor trees in the North. (My citrus will soon be coming into bloom now. Start in February and peak in early to mid April.--I can't wait!)
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Hey John my plumeria are just waking up from winter. I aquired about 20 more varieties by cuttings this springs so ill be busy with those also. good to see you tolerate at least a couple other plants. LOL. How many trees are you up to now? I had about 2 dozen fruit set on my largest meyer and about a dozen on a smaller one. Best crop for me so far. Illi good looking tree. Where did you get it. Also I forgot to ask, what type of lime is it. The benefit of using a very well draining soil is that you can go with a bit bigger pot than what would otherwise be considered too big because of the perched water. If that was my tree I would go with at least something in between a 1 and 5 gallon pot. I use all nursery pots because they are cheap so my stock is 1 and 5 gallon pots. I have a few much bigger too. You could probably get by with a 5 gallon if you have a good draining soil and watch your watering. In july/august in oklahoma its very hard to overwater container plants even using straight miracle grow. Its this winter that you have to be careful. mike
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Andrew Scott
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi Mike,
Very well said. I lost a lot of growth on my 5ft tall 'Star Ruby' grapefruit. It is recovering now but damn, we have had freeze warnings this whole weekend so back inside they go. My dwarf 'Improved Meyer Lemon', is still holding onto the fruits it developed last summer, and the larger fruits didn't start turning yellow until I moved the tree outdoors. I had all my citrus uner my 600 watt HPS light, which also provided an excellent enviroment for spider mites! My 'Ponderosa' lemon flowered under the lights but I only had a few but then again, the tree is still under a foot tall.

I guess I should just be greatfull considering I had major back surgery last January, and I wasn't capable of caring for my trees like I normally would. Honestly, I am just proud to say that I have not lost a citrus tree in quite some time now!

Andrew
meyermike_1micha
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Andrew!!! How are you? I should write you pal! I will very soon! By the way, 30's tonight and already my trees have stopped growing again!!!!!! So sick of this when it's suppose to be warm. Now an even shorter growing season!

Hello Scott, please write me!

Patty, thank you so much...I hope you are doing well and that your trees are ok. I owe you mail too:-(
Many hugs to you!

Mike
poncirusguy6b452xx
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
MINE IS NOT DONE YET

{{gwi:587730}}

THE WALLS ARE COMPLETED AND I HAVE 10, 55 GALLON DRUMS FILLED WITH WATER.

CLICK THE LINK TO SEE WHAT TAKE AS MUCH ENERGY AND TIME AS ONE SEED GROWN MEIWA KUMQUAT TREE.

tHEN i HAVE TO ASK IS FORTUNELLA WORTH IT.? NO, BUT I WILL KEEP MY TREES UNTIL SUCCESS OR DEATH.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL YOU NORTHERN CITRUS'ERS. MAY GLOBAL WARMING BE WITH YOU

Here is a link that might be useful: https://plus.google.com/photos/111099372377958308731/albums/5864651368775846321?banner=pwa&authkey=CI763rvAj8eLAg
johnmerr
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Mike,

You are the pioneer for sure; and an inspiration for those with difficult climes.
Here is photo of one of our new projects at 9 months from planting. C'mon down, if you ever get tired of fighting Mother Nature.

John

Citrus pioneers from the North, it's not easy!

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hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA

Scott_6B

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Citrus pioneers from the North, it's not easy!

Comments (6)

hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA

Scott_6B

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